=I= 28mm back on the menu?

 

I picked up the Blood and Zeal box (84 euros) and found a seller on the used group that wanted 28 euro per set of the Inquisitorial Agents so grabbed 2 of those as that gives you 90% of the build options.

 At first I felt the box would not be that interesting, I could just sell the Chaos dudes and the statue and come out ahead. But after (just) opening the box that changed.

The statue will be stripped into parts. The wings into the bitx box, the lower parts will come in handy for ....something Imperial, the skulls built as a pile and usefull for a pile of dead Fantasy ogres? The candles etc will come in handy as well and the statue will get a new base.

The Chaos dudes actually make nice Techno Barbarians. I might tone down the weapons a bit cause carrying the equivalent of a 3 metre chainsaw in one hand etc is a bit much even for me. 


Will this go somewhere? I hope so. My health took a big knock in the past 2 weeks, I got a painkiller upgrade for 4 days that worked really well but isn't sustainable in the long run (liverdamage being one which I'd rather not add to my long list of "Stuff that is wrong with Gunbird") and I'm not feeling painting....well, I want to, but my left eye is still being a downright b*tch. Several visits to the hospital planned in the next weeks-months for more checks, but I'm not holding my breath. Thus far every test this year had come back negative.

Anyway, enough negativity. I'm getting more and more inspired by Peachy to get stuff done, so let's go :)

A bit of recycling never harmed anyone, did it now?

 I barely surf online anymore, I removed a good 2/3rd of all of my FB groups as there is only so much time in a day and after 8-9 hours behind a desk and my PC.....you kind don't want to sit here for another 3-4 hours. But I ran into this pic:

Sadly I cannot for the life of me remember who made it. I liked the idea, not so much the pristine barrel and GW style blood.

 

 

So....made my own. Bit more like what I'm used to blood wise (please don't ask) and should come in useful someday. Or not. It was fun to paint again, and finish something. I'll focus more on these little things for a while. Sorry if it is a bit too graphic for some....it's a gamepiece, nothing else.

 

 

And my God is my camera and light combo a big pile of steaming......ugh

Keeping motivated

At the moment, I'm having a hard time staying motivated. This depression casuses me to not care about anything, sleep 12-14 hours a day and when I am up I just watch Youtube videos and read Blogs and Forums all day. Painting I have not done since tuesday. There is still no date set for therapy or any kind of treatment. I have been going to the gym to train my knee, but I end up even more tired and aching (which is a good thing, that means it is working).

There were a few things that brought a smile to my face though.

Modhail dropped in lastnight, not to game or paint, but just to chat and show off the Baleful Realmgates he painted for me (and I need to sort out some more models for him as a payment).

If you ever played the game Portal you should recognise the colors used :) I like the way he painted his rock, he mixes in green, I will try that for myself soon. Modhail also marvelled at the size of the 3mm aircraft and the possibility this gives fro Crimson Skies cause now his Zeppelin looks the size of a real Zeppelin, and converting 3mm stuff is rather easy. But let us not get ahead of ourselves.

Like I said before, I hardly ever buy anything, I much more prefer to trade/swap, though sometimes I see things the scratchbuilder in me just can't pass up.

On the Oude Dozen FB page (a trading group for unwanted kits) 1/72 isn't a popular scale, most if 1/48 and 1/35 and 1/24. But this week we had a new seller with loads of 1/72 vehicle kits. I picked this lot up for 5 euros per box. 2x M3A1, 1 for my British, 1 for my Russians, a 231 and a 232 for my Germans (undecided yet what period), and 3 Esci kits that are just perfect to turn into wrecks for WW2 and Afghanistan/general Middle East. At least thinking of wrecks gets my creativity flowing again.

I also went through my recent trades/purchases box and grabbed out these 3 statues, gave them a good rub down with alcohol, sanded the bases smooth and based them. The plan is to paint them stone like Modhail does, and jewel the eyes. 1 purple, 1 green and 1 red. I have absolutely no intention of doing anything Chutulu-ish but just like the statues, and they will look nice in Frostgrave too or any other High fantasy setting or even amongst the city ruins as eye catchers. Just need to finish the edges and get them basecoated.

Right, that is a crappy pic if I ever took one. Copplestones 15mm Old One idols

Speaking of baseoating, I recently managed to trade some Kolony87 miniatures, the Governess and the Ambassador. I snipped off the tabs, cleaned them up and based them, ready for basecoat.

I'm looking forward to painting some 28mm models again, it has been ages.

All this surfing and browsing does get me quite a few bits of inspiration, and I just made a collage of what ticked my brain in the past few days.

Going clockwise.....A converted Necron Doom Scythe into a Ork contraption....this has made me search out second hand  ones straight away as I 'd love to add this to my Ork posse. A Necron head as a gasmask conversion will do nicely for my Inquisitor party. Death guard because I've collected quite a few old RT Beakies now that I want to paint up in that scheme. I even bought the official Forgeworld decalsheet for it. Expensive but at A4 size well worth it. A servitor cause you can never have enough servitors. A Kroot, purely for the paintjob as n inspiration for my own Kroot, followed by a Cultist which makes me want to combine Frotsgrave sprues with 40K sprues. And finally a nice conversion of the heavy stubber/flamer cultist into a overly large chainsaw that fits anything from 40K to Post Apocalyptic times....

Closing up, I want to inform you all that the airbrush I bought....<cough> 18 months ago <cough>.... is now on my table. I need to clear that of everything, turn a cardboard box into a spraybooth and just start basecoating figures and stuff to get a feel for it. It is not doing me any good stored in my cabinets and I paid good money for it.

Plenty of things to spike my interest and keep me going, but I know very well my dark mood can take over any minute and waste a couple of days or even a week just like that.

Wasteland Ruin - 3 Doors Down

Sorted the weathering and the labelling of the 3 doors. Also washed all of the rebar with Devlan Mud and afer that had dried, with Vallejo Light Rust Wash for that crusted rusted iron effect.

Next up: painting and weathering the tiles, and after that doing the paperwork. Can't wait, though that last step is going to take a few evenings I guess.

Wasteland ruin progress - grey sorted

Finished sponging grey on the model all over, even inside where it is bloody hard to reach. Did the tops with a almost pure white highlight, only picking up the top and some of the other straight edges, but it hardly shows. Finished painting the rebar in the base brown tone, will do a brown wash to pick up all the crusts and then do a orange drybrush tomorrow evening. Also just finished painting (well, using a sponge) 2 weathered green doors and a wooden door with glass. Just need to clean the edges a bit. I'm thinking of doing the tiles in a Khaki colour, that seems to match the ones I saw in the bunkers and KPN building I frequented over the years.

I'm expecting a envelope with a dozen or more sheets of posters and newspapers to cut up, bathe in coffee and spread all over the floors. After that it is time for washes and final weathering, before reprimering the plasticcard edge that has worn a bit and painting it black with 2 good coats of gloss and a matte varnish to end it. I don't see a point in varnishing the model atm, It is built pretty solid and not likely to be tossed around by me anyway...

In other news, I traded a big plastic Space Marine statue on the sprue that should be here by the weekend too. I'm planning on giving it a raised base and adding 40K posters to it, so it will be easy to change the theme of the ruins to 40K/Inquisitor by just placing that in a central square or in front of a ruin.

I'm having a hard time keeping my chin up. The physical pain is getting less with each passing day, though I still have plenty of problems with my back and knee, but I and Kim have detected my mood has gotten a lot darker over the week since I got the news of my job loss. I'm having trouble enjoying my kids and even getting a bit of a temper now and then. These are the first signs of a (coming) depression for me and I need to nip this one in the butt.

A tale of wolves, skeletons and landmines

Hmm, might make a great movie.

My fever seems to be gone so I finished what I had on the table. First up:

2 Old Plastic Games Workshop wolves that have been in my bitsbox since about the time I started doing GW games back in 1998. Rebased to smaller (and flatter) 45mmx20mm Renedra bases that seem to do them more justice. Didn't bother with greenstuff to hide the head-body join, these were quick paints to see if I could still paint figures (instead of all of the objects you have seen me paint). Grey basecoat, black wash, grey drybrush top down on most of the body and a grey+white drybrush over just the tops. Bone teeth, white and black dot for the eyes. Sure, the newer GW Wolves are much nicer, they also cost money and I had them in my bits box. Use and be happy with what you have. And these will work perfect for Frostgrave. And Mordheim. And whatever game they can appear in.

Second:

2 Armoured skeletons, the left being the newer Games Workshop skeleton, the right a mix of parts from the same Games Workshop sprue on a Frostgrave body. I can't remember having painted undead since at least when Mordheim came out, so I just looked at a few videos to get ideas and went from there. Bone spray, Deval Mud wash for the base, Vallejo Dark Sand overall, Vallejo Pale Sand highlight, done for a skeleton....I don't like the bleached skull look. The only ones I ever saw like that were the ones my fellow students bleached for their own collections, the sand colour is more natural. I've always used red a binding colour for my undead and I don't see why I should change that now. Red with a Devlan Mud wash to make it grimy. Undead don't wear shiny clothes. Undead being....dead and I doubt they give a damn... Weapons and armour went through a few trials untill I settled on just washing it all over with a brighter orange mix and calling it done. I'll go over that particular process again with the next lot, and do it better. Or different. Or the same, who knows. The weathering on the shields worked particularly well I think. Other then a few speedpainting mistakes and general sloppyness, I'm moderately happy with them. I know what look GW tried to create with the left ones skull but my painting makes him loook stoopid. Oh well.  Hey look, 2 armoured skeletons for Frostgave. And Warhammer Quest. Done.

Third:

15 landmines. Not much to say about these, I started them back in It's a Trap! (October!? Time flies!)
Army-ish green, Deval Mud wash, red trigger, normal basing style dusted on the ends of the mines. Mines themselves are Oyumaru moulding copies from the launchers op top of the Furioso Dreadnaught....I thought they would make great mines. Sue me :) Added some small tufts to a few, and newspaper bits to two more, and left the rest bare. They are going straight into my counters box. Will work fine for Inquisitor, TNT, Necromunda. 15mm round 2mm plywood bases that are sadly no longer available from Fenris Games. Damn, I like these. Might have to go 2mm MDF now.

Right, now all I need to finish is the 3 Cars cars I'm working on, and then I can put some primer on new bits and get working on those. And repeat. I have a game of Frostgrave scheduled for thursday evening, so I'm looking forward to rolling up new monsters. Or more of the same. I don't mind painting the same stuff again.

No progress on the Wasteland Ruin. Right now I will finish painting the inside grey with a sponge too, and then call it a day, maybe paint the doors and tiles etc, and just game with it. And start the other bits for the square, and do all of the additional weathering atc at the end, with a broad brush. I've been staring the damned thing to death for the last week so it is better if I take some time off that particular ruin and get started on a new ruin. Something more suitable for Mordheim. Or dare I say, Frostgrave?  Yes, that sounds like a good idea.

Not so easy rider, part 2

Added the 4th bike, even if it has no wheels, it will make great filler. Speaking of which, I added and opened 3 of the 4 filler caps just for fun. I think the bikes could use some more work, I'm just not quite sure what. As soon as my head is a bit clearer (change in medication, taking them in the evening cause I was getting drowsy after taking them in the morning....driving and work not a good combo make....but now I'm bobbing my head like crazy.....<yawn>) I'll give them a rethink. Maybe some GS work.

Also in the mail today, I picked up a set of 2nd hand Dora DVD's for the girls, and as the seller had some cars from Cars I picked up 2 of those as well. Auction stated zgan (as good as new) and she asked 7,50 a piece for them but in the pics I could see some chipping so I talked it down to 5 euro a car. Shipped, loose, in a huge box (so more chipping) and when I got them out, 3 of the 4 axles are bent and the bottom of the car is toutching the floor. Also way more damage then was first apparent. If I had bought these for the girls I would have been really pissed, now I'm just slightly miffed cause I overpaid, 2,50 would have been enough for the condition they are in. Great for Fallout.

Anyway:

I like em. When based, they will fit in better. Just wondering how to get rid of the eyes....anyone have any ideas?

Finally, just finished matte varnishing the space junk. I can see I missed a few spots but I will let this lot dry and redo those parts tomorrow evening so I can finish them off on thursday and be done with it. And then on with the next lot, either the bikes or more Frostgrave scenery.

Speaking of which, I bought a really big scenic item you will  love. But more of that in the future.

Between a rock and a even bigger rock. And some paint.

Finally, fridayevening! Miserable week at work, I'm happy it's weekend, and some new stuff arrived just in time, jay.

First up, a collection of Playmobil rocks

Seller took over a week to reply and baffled me by asking half the amount I was willing to pay for it, and even included free shipping. But when they arrived I noticed half of them won't stay upright on their own so they will need bases and some filler, so I put these in the to do pile. Still happy with them though.

Kim sent me out to get a gift for her nephew, something I needed to pick up at the local Action (a chain of discount stores, they sell Matt Black spraypaint for 2 or 3 euro a can, great for scenery). 15 minutes later, no toy (sold out) but did pick up this set for 80 cents.

One half will be for my future 20mm mosque, the other 1 and a half bit will be come planets for space games. I might even pick up some more, these are less then half price what the hobby store asks for them.

Picked up these 2 from a seller at the LAF, really nice bits for my Inquisimunda box. When I chucked them in I spotted another cherub with book, oops!

I was waiting for these. A new varnish to try out, a new bottle of Pale Sand that I use for drybrushing my dirt bases as the old one was really spent, a red primer to try out, and plenty of Ammo stuff. I'll be using the green slimes on rocks, buildings and the fountains, looking forward to that. I will play a bit with the rusts too.

Other then work on the sci-fi junk I only based up 6 rats that I got off some Skaven sprues I got for free a while back. Sure, they are not giant rats, but good enough for me, and free.

Mouldine cleaning, sand on the base and a quick paintjob. Can't remember ever painting rats though, will have to look into that.

Slow progress on the Inca temple base, filled in the holes (needs a bit os fine sanding) and covered the hole with a plate so I can use still water effects to create a shallow pond (well, I'll paint it pretty dark, so maybe not that shallow).

Also made a few printouts of a Fallout 3 building that I want to copy for my foamboard try outs soon. I noticed a similarity between the Terrain Tutors foam building build tutorial here >

And this building:

...so I will use that as a reference to copy it as my first building for TNT.

I'll be darting between 28mm Sci-fi and 28mm Fantasy for a bit now. Get more games in. 20mm can come later, no worries.

Now, to score some more Space Marine bikes for scenery conversions and rust painting skill enhancement. Already traded some wolves for 2, and I just got offered 6 more so out come the bits boxes or in this case the promise of a scratch built building or 2 for free! (and thats enough, thank you, these will be for scatter scenery.)

OOP Forgeworld Sewer Hatches/Entrances

I picked up these Forgeworld Sewer Entrances for 17 euros I believe at the local FB Wargamers market, unpainted, new in the bag (still counts as 2nd hand) back in March 2015. They look rather nice, with the hatches being numbered 1 till 6 in Roman numerals. They are long OOP like most of the good Forgeworld stuff. They are not all perfectly round as FW has a habit of taking things out of the mould too soon, but at first glance that is not very obvious. They do use a ton of releasing agent, mine were actually shiney from it. Several good scrubs managed to take that off. A bit more effort later removed all of the casting stalks too.

I based them on hexes as a the time I did not have suitable round bases and the hatches come with a circle of sculpted on crap that I did not want to remove. And a hex stands out to me like a round base does not. As these will be used as objectives or scenario specific encounter locations, I prefer it that way.

Originally these were painted with a mix of black metal and flat brown, but you can't see any of it after some stippling, washes and a bit of filter. After 2 coats of flat I went over them lightly with a pencil and rubbed it around a bit to get the current effect. A good healthy dose of tufts later and voila.

My idea beind these are the sewer hatches you see in Fallout 3, leading to underground areas.

(Necromunda model for scale (not painted by me))

I'm rather happy with them and will come in handy for games of Zombies, Pulp, Necromunda, Inquisitor/Munda, Modern and Horror as well as being more then suitable for Mordheim.

Pity they are OOP.

Going to try some new things (for me anyway) tomorrow.

Instead of my usual method of doing all scratches and marks by hand, I tried the foam method tonight. Doesn't always do what I want, but can't beat the time won doing it like this, it is fast!

Did some extremely heavy weathering on these canisters, but I like it. The hatches I repainted with a mix of black steel and flat brown for that high manganese kind of look. Want them to be as generic as possible.

I just finished coating them all with gloss varnish cause I want to try something new (for me) tomorrownight. Got 2 bottles of Ammo MIG, Streaking Grime and Fuel Stains. I've never done this and I'm curious to what the results will be on the canisters. I've also got a bottle of AK Interactive Earth Effects that I want to use on the hatch covers, but if that doesn't work out I will experiment on them with weathering powders, I'm dying to try a few of those out as well (as I should as I have had quite a few of them for years now!).

Also, I repainted the statues according to some I saw on the Frostgrave FB page.

Loved the way they looked, so asked for the recipe. Turns out Shining Gold, Agrax Earthshade aka Brown Wash and then yada yada oxide (I just can't remember those dreadful names) is all I need to do. Repainted them with Vallejo Model Air Gold (well, more of a heavy drybrush) followed by a good wash with an old pot of Devlan Mud. And it did the trick. Painting bronze by painting them gold first. Huh, who figured that one?

I've asked Modhail for his rock colour mix so I can use it on the big statues, already finished their bases today. Sticking to Flat Brown base, Dark Sand drybrush and Pale Sand drybrush for now, looks good and almost the same as most of my previous work so it all ties in.

And gosh, look at the time. 2:30 in the morning. Good thing it's the weekend :)

Nurgle Warband plans

In case you are wondering, I'm building opposition for my Inquisitor(s) first. Nurgle is the first of my Opfors, and I'm feeling really creative for them. My Nurgle won't be full of boils, tears and holes in them, I prefer them much more muted, worn and used, pale and sickly with just the occasional boil. Lot's of rusted and worn equipment.

I intend to build the following:

• Leader, ogre sized
• 2nd in Command
• Priest
• Cultists
• Fast Assault aka Nurgle drones x3
• Heavy Support aka Doomwheels x4
• Real size Nurgle Space Marines 1-2x
• Servoskulls aka mini Blight Drones x5

And just cause we like visuals, for the leader something like this:

2nd in command must be this:

...but with a Chaos plasma pistol instead of a mace.

Priest....undecided. I have a not Chaos Dwarf one that I really like from a company who's name I forgot that is slated for a Mordheim Chaos Warband, but could be drafted in here. Also very nice would be this guy:

(the chap on the left)...and a tad more expensive!

Cultists will be the standard plastic Chaos cultists with a suitable paintjob. Cannonfodder anyway. And I have 60 of them spare from a previous buy.

Drones and Doomwheels you know, for real size Marines just google the term. I've got loads of marine parts in trades so I can build a few for fun, though I will just do 1 or 2 as they will be quite overpowered and only for special occasions :) Mini Blight Drones are also mentioned in the previous posts.

Oh, and chainswords/chainaxes/chainfists will future heavily....for some reason I feel this is a perfect Nurgle weapon, ripping and rending foes apart, creating nasty if not deadly wounds. You can see the theme in the model selection :)

I'll get more ideas as this goes along, but these are the bits I want to be working on for the next few months.

Doomwheel, part 3

It has been a extremely good week sofar for the Doomwheels. Today, a letter arrived from Australia with 4 round half bits in em, enough for one Doomwheel. Thx Mr. Zeidler! Yesterday, a bits box arrived that I had won on Ebay.de a few weeks back but had been slow coming as for some reason the seller didn't send his bank details, but only wanted a bank transfer. A few emails later.....

...a GW Batallion box ends up on my doorstep. In it almost 700 grams of Space Marine, Chaos Space Marine and vehicle bits, plus a few assorted Bretonnina bits that will be handy for Mordheim and a few nice Eldar weapon bits that will be handy for my Kroot conversions. I had made a bid on the box cause I saw at least 7 bits that would be useful for the Doomwheel, and figured the rest would make good trade fodder. Boy, was I in for a surprise! In it were 22 bits that I need for the Doomwheels, half round bits, ring mounts, weapon mounts, plates, the works. And 3 Terminator Assault Cannons, which sell for more or less what I paid for the box in the first place. Also, a set of small multiple missile launchers from a Terminator were in the box, so in theory, if I found enough parts to make a 5th, a missile version could be made. Or I could equip them with magnets (all or just a few) so I could magnetswap the weapons around....meaning I would be able to do a heavy bolter or twin linked bolter versions as well. Or whatever weapons would tickle my fancy really. I'll put some more thought into that this week

Also in the box was a set of 4 exhausts from the bottom of a drop pod....which come in handy for Epic sized Blight Drones as built here > epic-blight-drones-tutorial I'll make moulds of the 4 engines so I can cast them quicker, and get a few servoskull sized lasgun or similar weapon only Nurgle nasties to field alongside my big boys. Parts for these I have already, got a bag of painted and unpainted Tyranid Rippers from a lot of Nids I once picked up for BFG conversions that are just perfect for this.

So, more Nurgle nasties for the Inquisitor team to fight :)

Also, payday is coming up, and I will set aside funds to buy bits for the other 2 Plague Drones....should be about 20 euros in parts (with free shipping) and 7-8 euro plus 4 euros shipping for the engines. I'm aiming to limit my spending to 50 euros for May, if I want to spend more I'll have to sell more, simple as that. There is 12,50 Pounds left in my Paypal account that I want to save for the AK-47 purchase, Also, I will be visiting the new GW store for some painting advice and chats on friday with nothing but 1 euro cash on me for a can of soda....that way there will be no impulse buying of any sorts. And after that I will visit my storage space to look for my Mordheim rulebook and more stuff to sell.

Oh, and I have 4 basic Doomwheels finished now. They build so easily :)

Doomwheel, part 2

I've sidetracked the drone for now. I know I want 2 or 3 more, but simply cannot afford the expense atm of an additional 30 euros in shipping and parts for 2 more, and buying a box of them is way out of my league (46 euros).

I received several envelopes with bits sofar, either paid for the shipping or got them for free, for which I thank my benefactors. My mate Sander even sent me a box full of Imperial Guard en Space Marine bits for nothing, bless him. Anyway, we had a brainstormsession tonight with a few mates to see how we want to arm them. Options were assault cannons, lascannons, twin bolters, heavy bolter, (heavy) flamer, CCW, meltaguns, plasmaguns, next to the twin linked bolter that is already on it (the gargoyle faces). It had to be within budget for 2 more models, so a total of 4, for a max of 10 euros of additional bits. Nothing beats a brainstormsession while kneedeep in bits, and with a budget looming!

In the end, we settled for a twin Assault cannon version using the Dreadnaught assault cannon so it can double as a grenade launcher, twin autocannons using the old Ork Biker ones, twin (heavy) flamer one using the Sentinels flamers and a CCW version using lots of left over spikes and pointy bits, plus 2 CCW off the Sentinel (that nobody ever uses). Thx to my mates Sander's giftbox we managed to find all of the weapons in one go! I've got enough parts to make 2 more basic wheels (just tanktracks and 5x 40mm 2mm thick round bases glued together) and I'm edging towards using biker bases for these, 50x25mm pill shaped ones. 12 of them in 2mm MDF will set me back 1.20 Pounds but then the postage hits. Hmmm. I've got a big bag of plastic 25x50mm bases....not a hard choice, I will just round off the edges and save me the expense. Jay, 10 euros saved!

Now off to actually build 2 more.

Plague Drone conversion, part 1

I'm a fan of Father Nurgle. I like to see rusted and decayed things. I like most of the artwork. And I really like the Forgeworld Blight Drone. However, I do not have the funds to buy one for Inquisitor (or Killteam) and to be honest, it is a bit big! But according to the fluff Blight Drones come in various shapes, so I assume they come in various sizes too :)

I spent some time online to see if people made look a like conversions before (they did) and if I liked them (up to a point). People use the more affordable Plague Drones for this, and I picked out 2 conversions that I liked the most.

This one:

What I like:

• It's a tutorial video. Someone has taken time to make one so other can make it. I call that cool :)
• The idea for the eye

What I don't like:

• Weedy engines, and much too clean
•  The tail
• For some reason the inverted pose makes it feel like a slow and lumbering bumblebee. 
• Why hide all of the details of the abdomen!

But there is also this, The tale of Spunky

What I like:

• Big engines!
• Pose, if a bit hunched
• Guns like the original

What I don't like:

• I like the idea, but it is missing something. It doesn't feel complete to me.

So, what did I do? Well, make up my mind first. I liked the first one better for some reason but it needed bigger engines, so I ordered the Robogear vehicle that has them (only 3.50 euro for the entire kit) and some Plague Drone bits like the body and a set of legs from a bits supplier for 8 euros. The carapache I already had. These other bits arrived 2 days ago and tonight I finally have the time to sit down and play with the bits.

But it didn't do anything for me. Drat. Now what? I wanted one cause it looked cool, I spent money on parts and it just doesn't click. So back to looking at pics of the Blight Drone and playing around with the parts that I got. I had already opened up the abdomen and inserted some srpue bits, so I turned the entire thing around, in the original Plague Drone position.

I then got the Space Marine turret hatch bit (mine is the Chaos one) and reversed that so it now had top cover for the eye. Now the armour plates are mostly ok, I will just need to sculpt a new cover one for part of the SM Turret hatch bit. Since the number of Nurgle is 3, why not give it 3 eyes, but not 3 infront, but 1 in front and 2 on the sides (or maybe even more?). I fillled in the sprue bits with superglue and maizena and set it aside to dry in the upright position, so I could now dryfit the engine parts till I found that the slightly tilted forward and exhausts tilted outward, away from the sides works best for me.

And then I dropped 1 of the bloody engines on the floor right in between a pile of boxes underneath my cluttered desk. Cue swearing and sweating while I bend underneath a table in the hot exhaust of my pc with a little handheld light, searching for the damned thing. After 15 minutes Kim came up to see what I was doing, and she asked if she could help. I gladly accepted and 5 minutes later she fishes the thing out of a box in the pile that I'm sure I searched twice. Shows what I can do.

After thanking her she started asking questions about what it is I'm making. After a short Chaos gods in 40K course I came to the shortest , apt, description I could find. A big mechanised fly that shoots back when you try to swat it. There. Apt enough?

Anyway, I stuck the engines on with bluetack and took some shots of how it stands now.

As it stands now, more upright, and the head bit angled downwards towards normal sized miniatures, I feel it looks a lot more menacing then the other conversions.

What I need to do now is:

• Let the idea fester in my head :P
• Resculpt the top armour a bit so it covers the head bit partially, leaving most of the cabling exposed.
• Add 3 or 4 gun(barrels) underneath the head, not too much, I don't want to overpower it.
• Add cabling from the engines to the top and bottom hole
• Add leggs to the first 2 holes in the body (this means ordering more legs)
• Greenstuff up the engines so the look more organically armoured and suitably Nurgle, Also, add spike coming from the center angled downwards.
• If I'm ordering up more bits, why not add the parts for another one? I'm quite enjoying this :) (meaning no I can't cause I don't have any money right now, unless I sell more stuff. But not needing a Carnifex carapache does bring the costs down a bit.)

Quite chuffed now, I am :)

Doomwheel, part 1

Taking the advice to heart, i decided on one or two things to convert and have fun with. Don't bother with selling for now, just have some plain old fun. But what to do? Recently I joined the Epic FB group to see if it was a place to sell my Epic on, next to the Oldhammer FB group. One of the posts passing by was of teeny Epic scale Plaguedrones. Papa Nurgle approves indeed! While googling for conversions of the things (after seeing the price for one on Forgeworld knocked the wind out of me) Google for reasons only Google knows, showed a picture of a Epic Doomwheel.

A Doomwheel? Well, a Epic chaos Warmachine, a spikey spinning monowheel of death. I instantyly recognised it from a article I read what feels like aeons ago, namely this one: Audrey's Deathwheel

Made in 2004, this thing has been in the back of my head for over 11 years now :)

Hold on. So, you say, I don't play Epic. What gives? Indeed I don't. Part of me would like to (but that part of me whants to do all that is fun anyway! :P ), the other part of me is more practical and knows I have a lot of Epic stashed, but none of it is really complete enough (or painted) to game with. So in the near future I will sell all of it.

So what I need a Doomwheel for? Well, I need 2 of them :D And in my mind, they are prefect heavy weapons servitors, or worse, for Chaos. In my mind anyway.

2 problems.

1. She used parts that were readily available, for the most part, in 2004. FFW to 2015 and things like BFG cruisers bridges, Chaos Epic turrets and old school autocannons are as rare (and as expensive) as hen's teeth.
2. I ain't got no bits box to speak of (yet).

Fortunately, Epic still has a loyal following, with updated army lists etc and some people have built Doomwheels for their armies., Some ages ago, others more recent.

Other sidebits, other weapons, but still the same vibe as the original. I can work with that.

The lack of bits isn't too much of a problem. I've posted wanted ads on various forums, and gotten some replies back from people who have bits, so I'm trading freely to get them. Only 1 bit is a bits of a problem, this one:

You only get one of these per Chaos Vehicle sprue. I've got 1 sofar, and I need 7 more! Alternatively I could use the other 2 as well, but I prefer to stick as close to the original as is financially possible. So maybe I will nee to look at the various bits sellers to get them. Unless you, my readers, have some spare? I'd be very happy to take them off your hands :)



As I recently traded a big bag of Imperial Guard bits, track links turned out to be the least of my problems as I have quite a few of them. 40mm round bases however, I do not have, so I substituted them with ply 40mm round bases (2mm) and glued 5 of them together for a base to work from. This means it is bigger then the original, and the vehicle is about a head taller then a Space Marine, but I will base them on 2mm bases so the difference is less visible. I used a 12 track, a 8 track and a single spare track link slightly cut down for each Doomwheel. The slightly cut down one will be the base of the Doomwheel anyway and partially hidden by basing. So no problem there.

Anyway, after some fooling around with sharp knives, 5 minute expoxy and superglue (not neccesarily in that order) I've gotten this far and am now waiting for parts :)

Well, that is it. If anyone feels like helping, besides the half ring x7, I still need the following items:

Each of these I need 4 times.